It wasn't as if, in the 1950s, scads of artists were making a full-time living writing and performing, particularly in gospel music. There were only a handful of gospel quartets making a go of it without a day job.

But now, it's amusing to note that people once wondered what Gaither would make of himself.

Today, the 74-year-old is an influential artist and presenter, a writer whose songs aren't only chart toppers but part of many church hymnals, and a producer and executive who oversees companies that stretch well beyond music.

When a line of questioning starts to go to Gaither's towering influence over Christian music, the legend himself is quick to point out that writing and performing music of faith is nothing new.

"You go back to Brahms and Beethoven and Mozart and all the great classicists, and Handel's "Messiah" - you can't get any more Christian than 'king of kings, lord of lords, he shall reign forever and ever,'" Gaither said. "That's pretty Christian."

Gaither acknowledges that a lot has changed in modern Christian music since he first was taken with sounds of gospel quartets on the radio while growing up in Alexandria, Ind., in the 1940s.

"I realized four guys standing around a microphone could make some exciting sounds," Gaither said. "I was totally captivated by a bass singer that could sing that low and a tenor that could sing that high.

"I was really drawn to the artistry of it and the harmony. Later on, I realized it was saying some words and a message that became part of my whole theological basis of my faith and who I was."

Gaither eventually graduated from Anderson College in Indiana and, along with his wife Gloria, went to work as an English teacher for about a decade by day while increasingly writing and performing at night and on weekends.

"The styles have changed," Gaither said.

"The message is still basically the same: king of kings, lord of lords, he shall reign forever and ever."